Colony expansion aims to scuttle two-state plans

An internal report prepared for senior European Union officials finds that Israel’s colony construction in occupied east Jerusalem is part of a determined and preordained strategy to prevent the city from becoming the capital of two separate states. The report also says that the construction policy is “systemic, deliberate and provocative” and is the biggest single threat to a two-state solution.

For Palestinians living on the ground, who see homes demolished, face illegal arrests and detentions, suffer administrative and institutional discrimination as well as the indignity of having their homeland illegally occupied by the bullying Jewish state, the report contains nothing new. Sadly, it’s only too obvious on the ground that Israel is on a mission to isolate the Palestinian people, divide their communities with new homes for colonists, and separate families using road blocks, security cordons and walls.

The EU report comes on the heels of Israel’s planned intention to construct more than 5,000 new colony homes in and around occupied east Jerusalem and in the so-called ‘E1’ sector.

Israel’s construction plans have been stepped up since the recognition by the United Nations General Assembly of Palestine — Tel Aviv’s audacious response to the international community for daring to exercise their legitimate voice and support for the people and lands the Jewish state has so desperately and cruelly tried to repress.

Now that the EU report is complete, the question is how and when individual member states shun Israel for its unjust actions.